As attorney general, Sessions will wield enormous power over a litany of civil rights issues that are important to communities of color. The enforcement of voting rights and other anti-discrimination statutes, all fall under his purview. In addition, we count on the Justice Department to take the lead in ensuring that police departments do not use excessive force or target minority communities in its enforcement efforts.

If the last twenty years in the Senate are any indication of how Sessions will run the Justice Department, the results for civil rights could be disastrous. Just within the last month of the Trump presidency, we have seen the administration target immigrant communities in an unprecedented way.

President Trump’s executive orders on immigration have put a religious litmus test on immigrants from parts of the Muslim world, and his threat to punish sanctuary cities is an effort to dismantle the trust between the immigrant community and local law enforcement.

Given the attorney general often has a broad mandate over how the law is enforced, Sessions could begin to push his draconian vision of immigration reform to courtrooms and law enforcement agencies across the country.

Armed with President Trump’s executive order that ramps up immigration enforcement and targets municipalities that refuse to cooperate with Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Sessions already has the legal mechanisms in place to destroy the way of life for undocumented immigrants currently living in the country.

Although the Trump administration has spoken of targeting only criminal immigrants, many of those apprehended were hardworking individuals who were here providing for their families. These immigrants may be some of the first victims of the Trump administration, and with Attorney General Sessions in charge of the enforcement of the law; we can expect things to get much worse.

Civil rights organizations like LULAC have stood against such anti-American policies in the past and we will continue to do so.

In fact, LULAC pledges to work with all civil rights organizations in an effort to call attention to the Trump administration's unlawful actions and make every effort to protect minority communities.

Brent Wilkes is the executive director of the League of Latin American Citizens, which advocates for the political, economic and educational rights of Hispanic Americas. Follow him on Twitter@BrentWilkes. Follow LULAC on Twitter @LULAC

The views expressed by contributors are their own and are not the views of The Hill.